wypaul

 I think I might have flown with this guy once.

Thanks, sounds like a good method.

Thanks for the suggestion about flaps Leni. I have been using about 1/2 flaps for TO and it does feel much better. Today after checking full flaps at altitude I used full flaps for landing and it really worked for me. Best landing so far.

Installed the Ivo ground adjustable prop yesterday and it appears that I picked up about 5 kt

Twelve and one half hours total time to date

Larry I installed the Rotax friction cable yesterday and re=balanced the carbs. Sure do like the feel of it and plan on using it without the springs. I am headed to the airport to give it a try in a few minutes.

Installed the snap vents today.  Ended up using a 2 1/8" hole saw and they are really tight but work fine.

Also installed a rudder tab to center the ball.  Used some left over lexan and got lucky on the first bend centering the ball at cruise.

Another hour, don't know what I am going to do with the rest of the 33 hours I have to fly off

I pulled out my 2" snap vents for install today and the directions said to make a 2" hole in the lexan. Looks like it takes a 2.25 hole to me or am I missing something?

1. That makes since, it does feel better with the ball to the right. Will check it out.

Thanks Russ, I will put off trying the flaps on landing to somewhere in the distant future.

Doug, I can attest to that!

What a great little plane! Starting to get it dialed in rigging wise. Trimmed out was able to fly for several minutes without stick input and very little rudder input and could have continued for most of the flight today. The ball is still to the right of center without rudder input so there is still that to figure out.

Still having growing pains in the landing phase, I find that I need to carry some power into touchdown to make a decent landing. Haven't tried the flaps for landing yet. One thing for sure, when it is done flying, it's done.

6.1 hours on the clock.

Thanks guys, I will take a look at those and get one coming.

I am thinking about buying a small video camera that I can use in the plane.  Seems like some (most) turn the prop into hockey sticks gone wild but others do better.  Joey, seems like you posted some vids that looked good in this respect (and in general also).  Any suggestions?

The cheeks are open and the lip is factory, there is an excessive amount of flow at this time through the cowling.

Mike I have been looking at your setup and it appears that you have developed a good solution. I have made some adjustments and have the brakes working ok for now. I will be in contact with you about your setup sometime in the future. Right now I would like to get the hours flown off before I start any more mods.

It is a MK IV Avid, guess I will see how it does as the weather starts to warm up. Thanks and thanks Leni I made the adjustments to the wing but have not flown it yet to see if it is enough. Looks like Tuesday before I get another chance to check it out.

Put 3.1 hours on the clock yesterday.  There are a few rigging changes to be made before the next flight.  The left wing is a little heavy so I am going to re-check the rigging of the wings and the flaperons then make the changes to get the thing flying level.  The rudder requires right input even at cruise and the springs on the rudder pedals should be adjusted enough to take care of that but if not then a rudder tab will be added.

The last item is the stick is a little far forward to be comfortable while in level flight.  I have checked the manual but did not find anything about adjusting the stick position.  I am assuming that by adjusting the rod end at control column I will be able to move the stick back so that it is comfortable.  Does that sound correct, it may be clear to understand when I get back out to the plane.

A question for you 912 flyers:  My oil temp were running at 235 F yesterday with 60 F weather, do these tend to run this high with the new engine and come down as it breaks in or is there an oil cooler in my near future.

All in all a fun little plane but it seems to take forever to get anywhere compared to my Q-2 which cruises at 150kts.

Hey Larry, are you using the cable with or without the full throttle default springs on the Bing carbs?

I went with the Rotax dual throttle cable with friction lock from ACS and others but have not installed it yet.  kind of pricey but what the heck.

Regarding landing these little Avids and KF's.

I learned to fly in T- craft and Champs 36 years ago and thought I was a real tail dragger pilot.

18 years ago I flew my Model 2 Kitfox for the first time, having flown a Champ the day before and almost lost it.

These airplanes are to be respected since they react quickly to control inputs.

I have never flown a Pitts, but I am sure they would be another step above in control management.

I now land much differently than I did in the past when trying to land as short as possible.

I always wondered why on the extreme backcountry videos why the pilots were doing wheel landings which normally have higher approach speeds.

I have learned that what looks like a wheel landing is really a modified full stall 3 point landing approach, that as soon as the mains touch you get on the brakes and elevator as needed and the tail wheel never touch's till you are stopped.

Using this technique I have found that for the first time in all these years and hundreds of hours that I can land my Kitfox shorter than I can take off.

It does not help that everything I have done to land in short rough strips has added weight but huge amounts of confidence.

I still use the original Model 2 bungee gear with no issues so far and have considered the after market gears for better Angle of Attack.

This thread has cautioned me to reconsider because of the mentioned failures.

I always thought the Grove gear was too heavy to consider so I would like some input from this forum.

Ed; would you please call me regarding your Grove.

Thanks Herman Pahls Oregon cell 541-404-6464

Interesting Herman, I can see where using that technic  that a free swiveling tailwheel could work just fine.  I also have a Q-2 that I fly which is also twitchy on landing but I did not approach the Avid with enough respect with the Maule (Mal) tw braking free.  I don't know how many people have had problems with the "Bush Gear" but I do not blame the gear on the ground loop that I experienced with it.  The major problem beyond the tw, I think, was the weakness of the fuselage in the area of gear attachment area and learned from reading, after the fact that those areas need some re-enforcement especially with the wide style gear.  I guess that's why they call them experimental.  Having fun learning and experimenting.

Paul,

Although tail wheel castor is a poblem if it comes free at the  wrong time, my conclusion has been that the factory brake pedal geometry causes most ground loops with these birds.  (it did with my first three GL) Do your master cylinders connect to the cross tube or to the floor?  If they are not connected to the floor, a hard rudder input will push the opposite brake into your foot giving brake input that intensifies the ground loop.   Attaching MC to floor reverses the action and drives the brake pedal into the foot that is applying rudder.  This way you get brake assist for rudder inputs.  Although I wouldn't want to press my luck, I'm pretty sure I could now maintain control even if the tail wheel was castoring.  I've seen several members post pictures of this setup that were better executed than mine, so there are a number of good ideas to draw from.  After wiping out my standard gear, I put on grove gear and have never looked back.  (wide stance and puts the load in the right place on the frame)

 

Good luck and be safe.

I still have them connected to the cross tube but now working on changing the pedals and building the brackets to place them on the floors.  The Grove sound like a good way to go.  thanks

Paul, I have heard some really really mixed reviews on the bush gear.. good landings and they work great, bounce one too hard and they bend the fuse.  I think both guys have quit making the gear now due to the number of planes that have been bent up using the new spring gear.  We are in a really busy time at work, but I have one of the engineers working on the loading and geometry issues to hopefully come up with a fix so guys can quit pulling the side of the fuse in when they bounce it in too hard.

 

Sounds good, I will be interested in hearing what you come up with.

OK, Three flights, two ground loops and finally a good landing today.  I removed the cam for the tailwheel release on the Maule tailwheel that made all the difference.

Herman I know you have a lot more experience with these little planes than I do but from my experience with the wheel becoming free swiveling on landing it is hard to imagine that the free swiveling tailwheel will be a good thing, this is of course coming from a newbie to the Avid/Kitfox world.

I did get good at repairing the fuselage and found out that some reinforcement is required.  I really like the Bush Gear that I purchased from Mark and Lowell at HighWing llc.  They are great to work with and I can recommend them highly.

Doug,

The first thing I would test is to check that you are getting power to the solenoid when you turn the key or hit the starter button.  If yes, then check to see if you are getting 13 volts on the starter side of the solenoid when in the start position.  The fuse to the starter is good right?

Here is an old video that I found on You Tube that has a ton of great info on repairs.  It shows some tube straightening jigs that can be built in a few minutes.

Joey from looking at the picture is appears that there is about the same amount of slot as the original.  I did some rough figuring today and came up with a total axle movement of about 3" with the 21/2" inch slot that mine has (HighWing). Mine settled about 1/2" with the empty weight plus about 10 gal of fuel (about 675#) so down and dirty math leaves me with about 2 1/2" of travel at the axles....so I guess that I will be interested in hearing how much yours travels with just the empty weight.  I'll go back to the hanger this afternoon and see if I can get some better figures and also check to see what the axle travel is on the original bungie  gear.  OK, not sure if all of this has any great value by way of comparison, an engineer could do a much better job of it I am sure but then the newtons, ergs and such just makes my head hertz.

Snowing here in Wyoming

Paul

Hey Chris, finally made  it to the hanger today and have that picture.

Paul